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Agents from Albia

9 May 1998

By Clive Davidson

LIKE a SENTINEL defending the cyber-sky, a graphical representation of a jet
fighter flies across a simple, polygonal landscape. Suddenly, off to one side of
the computer screen, a second jet appears. The defender responds immediately and
a dogfight ensues.

The intruder turns tightly and begins to climb. As it banks, the defender
follows close on its tail. Then the intruder levels off momentarily before
dropping into a steep dive. As if sensing that its prey will try to pull away,
the defender rolls over, aligning its nose with the fleeing aircraft. The
intruder is now dead in its sights, but there is no gunfire and moments later
both jets vanish.

Peter de Bourcier, who works for the Cambridge software company CyberLife
Technology, watches all this and notes down the defender’s tactics. Its
manoeuvres are typical of an experienced pilot hunting an enemy. Yet this is no
human Top Gun, but an intelligent software “creature” that defence researchers
hope will one day fly a real plane. Unlike the intruder, which simply performs a
set of pre-programmed routines, the creature must work out everything for
itself, from how to operate the flight controls in order to stay airborne to the
best tactics for outwitting its enemy.

The pilot is one of the most ambitious entities to be built with the
techniques of artificial intelligence and artificial life. It has “eyes” that
see its world and a neural network for a brain which is washed with virtual
chemicals that alter its thinking and actions. Nearly everything about it is
controlled by binary genes. It can learn from past experience …